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Crowns of the March

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Manual · The Realm

The March and Generated Realms

One authored war on the river Mor, and seeded realms without end — what carries between worlds and what the seed redraws.

Original painting: three riders seen from behind on a ridge at sunset, surveying a valley below — a winding river, a stone bridge, a walled town with its church spire, and small plain pennants of rival castles on the far hills.
The contested March — rivals across one valley. — atmosphere, not a rule diagram.

How it works

The war you are given

The March is the game's authored war: a hand-built map shipped with the game, identical every time you take it up. The river Mor divides it, crossed in exactly two places — the Stoneford bridge, commanded by Vane's fortress from the first turn, and the Westmere ford beside a neutral market. House Calder holds the west bank from Greywatch, with the staging town of Redmoor on the south road; House Vane holds the east from Karnhold, the seat of the house.

The stated aim is Calder's, and yours: take Karnhold, the seat of House Vane, and keep Greywatch. The war ends the old way — the moment a capital falls, the campaign is over, won or lost. Because the board never changes, the March plays like a tournament map: the skill is reading a fixed position, not a new one.

The worlds the seed draws

Generated realms are the other half of the game. You choose a size and a banner count — two, three, or four — and a seed draws the country: terrain, rivers and crossings, roads, settlements, and each house's seat. Every generated world still hands you House Calder and still fields Vane against you; Rowan joins at three banners, Ashcombe at four. The same seed always rebuilds the same world, so a realm can be revisited, and its id alone is enough to find it again.

These wars run the crown-claim model: a stable strict majority of the original capitals, confirmed at the claimant's next owning-turn start, ends the campaign — and a house that loses its home capital and every surviving company leaves the realm entirely. Capturing a single capital, which ends the authored March outright, does not end a crown-claim war.

What carries, and what changes

Between the March and any generated realm, the carried things are the game itself: the four banners and their presentation, the roster, and the rules of movement, supply, securing, and siege. The redrawn things are everything geographical — homes, neighbours, rivers, crossings, roads, and the victory model itself. Greywatch, Karnhold, Stoneford, Redmoor, Westmere, and the river Mor belong to the authored March alone: no generated world recreates them, and no house carries a home, a muster, or an advantage from one world to another.

So read a new realm before committing to it. Find the crossings — rivers decide wars of movement here as surely as the Mor does in the March. Find the pastures and woodlands, because they decide musters: horse behind pasture, archers behind woodland, footmen and engineers almost anywhere. And find the original capitals, because in a crown-claim war they are the only ground that ends the game.

Rules, exactly

Exact values from the current build — not advice, not flavour.

Authored crossings on the Mor
2 — The Stoneford bridge and the Westmere ford.
Authored settlements
5 — Two capitals, a staging town, a fortress, and a market.
Banners a generated realm can field
2, 3, 4 — Chosen at setup when the realm is drawn.
Victory — authored March
A captured capital ends the war — Take Karnhold to win; lose Greywatch and the campaign is lost.
Victory — generated realms
Crown claim — a stable majority of the original capitals — Confirmed at the claimant's next owning-turn start.

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